How do I avoid this?

[TommyToxic]

My central midfielders are defending out wide while my winger and FB are deep inside my box. Nobody is marking their CMs.  Emi is a AMC, with a AMR and FB wide of him.

Is it as easy as lowering pressing, or tell my CMs to mark?

[Guest]

I would be asking who the heck the winger and FB are picking up. The CM is moving over to close down the ball carrier and help out the RPM who has three players to deal with out wide. What is the context of that screenshot? Was it from a corner or open play?

[TommyToxic]

25 minutes ago, Crazy_Ivan said:

open play?

Open play.
Normal scenario: Often my FB just stays narrow all the time, the winger tracks their attacking FB, or presses their winger. The RPM joins in defending wide.
What can also happen: The RPM joins in defending wide. Since their AMC went out wide this time, my CM(D) also decided to join. When both my central midfielders defend wide, my W(S) decides that he is no longer needed, and just goes narrow in defense.

 

[Guest]

That fullback would worry me then because if the winger is tracking back then great but if the Fullback is not taking care out wide then that to me would be the problem of why your CM is going to help wide. Either the fullback is not fit for purpose or you are having issues in transitions that is leading to your fullback having to come so narrow when your turn over the ball. If it is a transitions issue I would watch where you are turning the ball over and try fix that and or check positioning of players at breakdowns. If it's a player problem then you need to maybe look for another fullback.

 

[dazza11]

Have you set any individual PI’s?

you have set a TI of defend narrower so arguably your defenders are largely following your instructions and packing the box to protect against any crosses ( albeit in this case it does seem a little extreme). 
maybe setting the fb to stay wider ( altho it’s an in possession instruction mainly it at least means his starting pos is a little wider) if you want to persist with the defending narrow TI.

Quite why your W (S) is deeper narrower than your fb is a mystery tho! 

[TommyToxic]

2 minutes ago, dazza11 said:

Quite why your W (S) is deeper narrower than your fb is a mystery tho! 

My W is a converted fullback, so maybe he got confused =)

[TommyToxic]

Well, I finally managed to control my arch nemesis Norwich with their constant overloading of my wide areas. I dread playing them each season. Dropped Pressing to standard, much lower LOE, marked tighter and had my supporting forward man mark their deepest mid. Their only key highlights came from corner kicks and one shot from a wide area. I didn't create much either, but scored from a indirect wide free kick and a deep cross.